Gabriela Sabatini

In 1985, aged 15 years and three weeks, Sabatini became one of the youngest-ever players to reach the semifinals of the French Open, where she lost to Chris Evert. She won her first WTA Tour singles title later that year in Tokyo. She first entered the world's top ten (at #10) in September 1985,[8] and ended the year ranked number 12. She received the WTA Newcomer of the Year award.

Sabatini reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1986, losing to Martina Navratilova, before winning her second WTA title in Buenos Aires, She re-entered the world's top ten in September 1986 and would remain there for 508 consecutive weeks until May 1996.

Sabatini reached the semifinals of the 1987 French Open, and reached the final of the 1987 WTA Tour Championships, losing to Steffi Graf both times. She also won three WTA titles, including defeating world No. 4, Pam Shriver in Brighton.

In February 1988, Sabatini entered the top five in rankings, and would remain there uninterrupted until August 1993.[9] Having reached her third French Open semifinal, she then reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the US Open, where she lost to Graf in three sets. Sabatini represented Argentina in the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul and was selected to carry her country's flag in the opening ceremony. She went on to win the silver medal in the women's singles competition, losing to Graf in the final. Sabatini teamed-up with Graf to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon that year. At the end of 1988, Sabatini won her first WTA Tour Championships, without dropping a set.

In 1989, Sabatini reached seven tournament finals and won four titles, including the Miami Open (defeating Evert in the final). In defeating world No. 2, Martina Navratilova, and No. 1, Steffi Graf, to obtain the Amelia Island title, she became only the fifth player in Open Era history to defeat both the No. 1 and 2 ranked players at the same tournament.[10] She also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and US Open Grand Slam tournaments.

Sabatini raising the trophy won at the 1990 US Open after her victory over Steffi Graf

At the Australian Open, Sabatini sprained her ankle during a third-round match while one set up, and had to be taken off Centre Court in a wheelchair. 80 minutes later, in the following match, Mark Woodforde also sprained his ankle on the same court and was forced to retire by wheelchair too.[11] Multiple players had complained of the dangers of playing on the Rebound Ace hard court surface used at the tournament, which they claimed became very sticky – and therefore potentially dangerous – in very hot conditions.[12] Sabatini was sidelined for six weeks by the injury, returning to the tour in mid-March and winning her first tournament back – the Virginia Slims of Florida – without the loss of a set.

She reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Martina Navratilova, in straight sets.

At the US Open, Sabatini progressed to her second Grand Slam final where she defeated world No. 1 Graf in straight sets 6–2, 7–6 to win the title, having saved two set points against her while 5-6 down in the second set. She credited her win with being more aggressive and coming to the net whenever she could to attack Graf's shorter balls. Sabatini also beat Graf in the semifinals of the WTA Championships in Madison Square Garden later that year, losing in the final to Monica Seles, 6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. It was the first five-set match to be played on the women's tour since 1901.[13]

Sabatini won five tournaments in the first half of the year. She beat three top five players (Graf, Navratilova and Fernandez) on her way to winning the title in Tokyo, and beat Graf on three further occasions in Boca Raton, Key Biscayne and Amelia Island. In the Italian Open final, Sabatini defeated world no. 1 Seles for the loss of just five games. She reached the semifinals at Roland Garros (saving two match points in defeating Jana Novotna in the quarter finals) and then her third Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, where she lost to Graf 4–6, 6–3, 6–8 (having served for the match twice). Sabatini came close to attaining the world No. 1 ranking in 1991, but was narrowly denied by Graf and then Monica Seles. All three players' rankings were within a few points of each other for much of the year. Her year was capped by receiving the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Sabatini practicing in the early 1990s

Sabatini reached eight finals and won five titles, including her fourth Italian Open (where she beat world No. 1 Seles in the final again), Amelia Island (defeating Graf in the final) and Hilton Head. She also reached the semifinal stage at three of the four grand slams:- the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon; and a quarterfinal at the US Open.

At the Australian Open, Sabatini reached the semifinals, saving three match points in the quarterfinals against Mary Pierce to defeat her 4–6, 7–6, 6–0, before losing to eventual champion, Seles. She reached consecutive finals at the Italian Open and German Open during the clay-court season. At the French Open in June, Sabatini lost to Mary Jo Fernandez in the quarterfinals 8–10 in the final set, in what was – at the time – the third longest match in Open Era tennis, having led 5–1 in the second set.[14] Sabatini also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and at the US Open where she lost to Graf in three sets.

That year in May, following the stabbing attack of Monica Seles in the WTA Hamburg tournament, a vote among the top players was held by the tour organisers to decide whether Seles should be allowed to have her world no. 1 ranking protected while recovering from the knife attack. Of the 17 players voting, all players voted against protecting Seles' ranking, apart from Sabatini (who abstained).[15][16] Despite the vote result, Seles was eventually granted a joint No. 1 ranking (with Graf) upon her return to the tour two years later.[17]

In 1994, Sabatini reached the finals of Amelia Island and Strasbourg, and the semifinals of both the Australian Open and US Open. Across 15 consecutive Grand Slam events from Wimbledon 1990 to Australian Open 1994, she did not lose before the quarterfinal stage; this was the third longest streak of consecutive quarterfinal Grand Slam appearances in women's tennis ever (behind Graf and Navratilova tied on 19). In November, Sabatini defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final of the WTA Championships in New York to win her second title at that tournament. In the first round, she beat world No. 6, Martina Navratilova, in what was Navratilova's last match before retirement.

Sabatini won the title at the Sydney International, defeating Davenport in the final in straight sets. As well as the reaching a record seventh final in the Amelia Island Championships and her third final at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she also reached the quarterfinals of both the French Open and Wimbledon, and the semifinals of the US Open (where she lost to eventual champion Graf 4–6, 6–7). Their semifinal was the 40th and final match between the pair, in which Graf led 29–11. Sabatini's 11 wins meant she had defeated Graf more times than any other player ever managed to defeat her.

Sabatini missed several months of the season due to a pulled stomach muscle injury. In New York in October, she announced her retirement from professional tennis.[18][19] At the end of the year, she received the WTA Diamond Aces Award (given to the player considered to have done the most to promote tennis both on and off the court).

From 1986 until her five-month injury absence in 1996, Sabatini spent 508 consecutive weeks within the world's top 10. This remains the fourth longest top-10 streak among any player in WTA-tour history.[20] She spent 312 of those weeks in the world's top five, and finished six consecutive seasons with a top-5 ranking.[9] Sabatini reached the semifinal stage or better in Grand Slam championships on 18 occasions in singles and 14 times in doubles, and reached at least one Grand Slam singles semifinal for 11 consecutive years. She defeated the reigning world No. 1 on ten occasions (Graf seven times, Seles twice and Navratilova once) during her career.[21]

Sabatini won the Diamond Konex Award in 2000 as the most distinguished "Sportsperson of the Decade" in Argentina, and in July 2006 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.